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VARSITY VIEWS NOTEBOOK MEN'S LACROSSE FINISHING KICK Yale rallies past PSU in NCAA tourney Track teams shine in outdoor season's homestretch he Penn State track and field teams certainly know how to finish strong. In May, the women's track and field team won the Big Ten outdoor championship, its fourth conference title in the past six seasons. Highlighting the team's performance was a gold-medal effort by sophomore Lauren Kenney in the javelin. Then, at the NCAA First Round at North Carolina A&T University, the Nittany Lions qualified 20 athletes – in 15 different events – for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which were set for June 5-8 in Eugene, Ore. "The Nittany Lions rose to the occasion and had a phenomenal three-day competition," coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said after the NCAA First Round. "We had a team meeting on [May 22] and agreed that our goal was to advance 20 athletes to the NCAA Finals, and it's so exciting to have achieved that. We saw some of the best competitive and gutsy performances of the entire year from our athletes this weekend, proving that we've really timed things up for the postseason." One of the most important performances of the first round came from Kenney, a native of State College, Pa., and the sister of Alex Kenney, a redshirt junior wide receiver for the Penn State football team. Kenney punched her ticket to Eugene with a careerbest throw of 177 feet, 3 inches. It was the best effort of the entire competition, surpassing the second-place throw by nearly seven feet, and was enough to secure the top seed at NCAAs. "Coming into this competition, my first throw has always been my best throw," Kenney said. "So I figured if I could just get one out there on my T It was the most successful season in Penn State history, but an upset loss in the first round of the national tournament abruptly ended the Lions' 2013 campaign. Earning their first NCAA bid since 2005, the eighth-seeded Lions hosted 11th-seeded Yale on May 11 at Penn State Lacrosse Field. The Lions, looking for the first NCAA tourney win in school history, jumped out to a 5-1 lead heading into halftime, but Yale responded with a 9-1 run in the second half. The Bulldogs never relented as they toppled Penn State, 10-7. The Lions finished their season with the most wins (12) in school history. Walt Middleton Photography GOING THE DISTANCE Kenney had the WOMEN'S LACROSSE best throw of the NCAA First Round meet. Nittany Lions fall in NCAA quarterfinals first throw, then I'd be OK to just cruise the rest of the way. So that's what I did." Joining Kenney in the javelin was junior teammate Laura Loht, who was set to compete in the NCAA meet for the third consecutive time. She was the fifth seed after throwing a personal record 169-6 on her third and final throw of the preliminary round. In addition to Kenney and Loht, Penn State qualified the following athletes for the NCAA Finals: Mahagony Jones (100- and 200-meter dashes), Evonne Britton (100 hurdles), Melissa Kurzdorfer (discus, hammer), Kiah Seymour (400 hurdles), Natalie Bower (3,000 steeplechase), Sam Masters (men's 5,000), Robby Creese (1,500), Sean Reilly (high jump), Casimir Loxsom (800), Brannon Kidder (800), Ricky West (800) and Michael Shuey (javelin). The Lions also qualified their men's and women's 4x400 relay teams. After knocking the Nittany Lions out of the American Lacrosse Conference tournament in the semifinals, Northwestern did the same at NCAAs, ousting Penn State in the quarterfinals. The Lions opened the tournament with wins over Canisius and Massachusetts at home, but then traveled to Evanston and fell to the Wildcats, 15-7, to end their season. Penn State finished with a 14-7 record, including a 9-0 mark at home. Sophomore attacker Maggie McCormick was named an AllAmerican by WomensLax.com. McCormick and sophomore Kelly Lechner also earned second-team All-America laurels from the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association, and senior Katie Guy was named to the third team.

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